PORTLAND, Maine — The Biddeford man arrested Sunday after a traffic stop and police seizure of his arsenal of weapons now faces federal charges.
Timothy Courtois, 49, has been charged with one count of making a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm and two counts of possession of firearms by an unlawful user of controlled substances, U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced Tuesday afternoon.
Courtois was arrested in York on July 22 after a Maine State Police trooper clocked his Ford Mustang traveling 112 mph in the southbound lanes of the Maine Turnpike. Other motorists had called police to report the vehicle was speeding southbound on the turnpike with its hazard lights flashing.
According to the U.S. attorney’s press release, state police found a substance believed to be “K2,” a synthetic form of marijuana, in Courtois’ car.
Also inside the car, police found an AK-47 assault rifle, four handguns and several boxes of ammunition, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said Monday afternoon.
After Courtois’ arrest, police executed a search warrant at his home at 344 Elm St. in Biddeford and uncovered more guns, including a machine gun, rifles, handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
One of those guns was a .223-caliber rifle purchased from Cabela’s in Scarborough on July 20. That purchase led to the federal charges because Courtois said he was not a user of controlled substances when he bought the rifle, even though he was using both marijuana and K2, according to federal investigators.
Also in Courtois’ car, police found newspaper clippings about the mass shooting Friday during a showing of the new Batman movie at a Colorado movie theater, according to McCausland.
Courtois told police he had attended the Batman movie at the Cinemagic Theater in Saco on Saturday night with a loaded gun in his backpack and that he was on his way Sunday to Derry, N.H., where he planned to shoot a former employer, McCausland said.
“He didn’t speak to any intent to harm people [at the theater], but I’m sure a lot of this is going to continue to come out” as agencies including the state police, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives continue their investigations, Maine State Police Lt. Kevin Donovan said Monday.
“We don’t know what his true intentions were” when he brought the gun to the theater, and investigators are trying to determine his reasons for doing so and for having a large collection of firearms, McCausland said.
Courtois faces a maximum imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the federal charges. His appearance in federal court has not been scheduled, but he will appear in York District Court at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 23 on state charges of having a concealed weapon and criminal speeding.
Donovan said Monday that police checks haven’t revealed any criminal history in Courtois’ record.
Courtois was still in York County Jail on Tuesday evening. At his initial court appearance Monday afternoon, his bail was set at $50,000 cash or $150,000 real estate, with provisions that he not use or possess alcohol, drugs or dangerous weapons.
Speeding. Since when has having an imagination been a crime in this country. Why were they allowed to search his home because of a speeding ticket?
Possible 10 years in prison? I’m not saying this guy isn’t a jack@$$, but this is just ridiculous. But, of course, whenever someone has more than one of the “bad guy” guns, that automatically makes them every sort of lunatic. He could’ve raped someone and be facing less time than this.
10 years for the Federal charges. He lied when he purchased his AR.
Plus all the talk of a machine gun. *IF* he had an unregistered automatic rifle that’s an automatic ten years in federal pen
If he actually had a full auto weapon at his disposal, as the article indicated, that’s a pretty solid fed offense. ‘Spose any of his guns were actually fully autos? Or is this just good embellishment on someone’s part? All of those little black guns…assault rifles, are the same to those looking for juicy news. The cops may have NEVER said he had a machine gun, but it may have been delivered to us like that, just for good measure.
I saw the “machine gun” reference too but I didn’t put much stock in it… you know how the media gets with a story like this. I think the lying has to do with the K2 being a controlled substance.
His possession of controlled substances in the same vehicle as firearms, criminal speeding, and criminal threatening to kill someone validates a warrant in my opinion. I have no sympathy for those who want to own firearms and refuse to act responsibly like the rest of us. Get high or drunk – stay away from guns. Firearms are for the sober and sober minded.
feds need not make laws to regulate states rights.
Maine State Trooper – “Where were you going in such a hurry?
Timothy Courtois – “I going to shoot my old employer with the guns in the car”
MST – “Really?”
TC – “Really!”
MST – “Do you consent to a search of your car?”
TC – “Sure”
Minutes later
MST – “Do you consent to a search of your home?”
TC – “Sure, I got nothing to hide.”
The above conversation does not surprise me given that it has just been released that he is bi-polar and has been on a manic spree after he stopped taking his medication several weeks ago. I have a sibling who is a hard working, gentle man who is very passive when on his medication. When he is off of his medication he is delusional. The last time he was delusional he calmly stated he was going to kill another sibling and our mother, throw acid in my face and kill all of the policeman who attempted to stop him. Why? Because he was God and needed to do those things in order to save the world. Insane? Clearly. Once back on his medication, he was back to himself. The man I have known for over 4 decades is not the man I have lost numerous days of work to insure he is getting the correct mental health care to keep society safe and himself safe for the combined 2-3 months he has been insane in his life. It is important to watch for the warning signs and get help for ppl with bi-polar who are delusional (and unsafe to themselves and/or others in their delusional state). Thank God this man was stopped before someone was killed. My fear is that someday my sibling may harm someone which is why I check in with him every day to gauge his mental status.
Also, this man must not have spent time in a mental health facility in his life in order to have successfully purchased these weapons as that is illegal. My sibling did not have his first delusional “episode” until he was in his mid 30’s. It is possible that this man has not been delusional in the past and this is his first time for being a danger to society.
What we call “mental illness” is the most heart-wrenching disease I know. It divides families, destroys hard-working, good people, and induces fear and contempt in others in society. I still would rather have my brother back as I miss him nearly every day.
I think the term is “criminal speeding”, something different from just traveling over the speed limit. Not sure but I believe that’s worth more than just a speeding ticket.
They have no proof that he carried a gun into the theatre, your going to believe it just because this whack job says so??
And on the federal charge, how are they going to prove he was using a controlled substance last month when he purchased the rifle? Any decent lawyer will get this guy off. He is certainly a yo-yo who probably shouldn’t have firearms, but the feds are reaching here.
Of course it makes great headdlines at the moment. There will be no reporting when the charge doesn’t stick 9 months from now.
Actually, they can test his hair and find out what he has ingested for drugs (some of them at least) for the past 6 months or more.
Your absolutely correct,
But there has not been sufficient time from his arrest to do a lab analysis to confirm that he was on drugs months ago, and file a charge.
Is it me, or are there 7 handguns and 5 long guns on the table? Either the cops can’t count, or the guns are reproducing by themselves!
“Hey Sarge, throw a dozen guns up on the table, it’ll make for a great picture! We know the BDN will never question it!”
Actually I count six long guns. Way in the back there’s a pump shotgun sitting right in front of what looks like a 10/22. What I don’t see is anything that looks like a machine gun. The media is just playing right into this guys fantasy. All they have is his word that he had a loaded gun at the movie theater and that he was going to kill his ex boss. This guy is a loser with delusions of grandeur that’s it and he’s just loving the attention.
Wow, after reading that last sentence I thought you were talking abotu Bangorian!
lol I wasn’t actually but now that you mention it I can see some similarities.
Before it’s all over, he’ll probably be tried at The Hague as a war criminal.
In this country all he has to do is cry mommy or daddy issues. But that won’t get him out of federal charges.
Another nail in the coffin for those law abiding citizens and their gun rights.
All of this recent sensational material to ensure that the only people who will ALWAYS have guns when they want them, are the criminals.
Last week’s tragic story that stemmed from legally purchased firearms, to this gem.
Copy cat packin’ a gun in a theatre, speeding, holding drugs, lots of guns, auto weapons, premeditated murderous intentions, confessions. Damn good stuff… Lib gun control freaks UNITE!
It’s really working in Chicago. The murder rate is nearly second to none to anywhere in the whole country. But hey, the citizens aren’t carrying…
Shouldn’t the cops, the crooks, the military, the would be dictators, and the tyrants be the only ones with the guns? Yes, of course! That way, the crazies like Tim Courtois and Jim Holmes would never, never, never be able to get weapons. There would never be any more shootings, murders, or any crimes against humanity.
If the Colorado shooter wasn’t able to get his weapons so easily, legally, it would have never happened. Mr. Courtois’ weapon(s) were obtained illegally, the article said so. That means that if his weapons couldn’t have been obtained illegally, his crimes, or potential violent crimes, would never have happened. Wait. What?
CAUTION: heads of liberals may explode.
There is absolutely no reason that anyone should need to own an assault rifle. Zip.
Hmm, interesting that some of my deer rifles have more power and are capable of accepting interchangeable magazines. What makes an underpowered AR15 worse than my Remington?
spray paint it flat black and change the stock to a pistol grip and put a rail on it… now its a black scary gun and should be banned. even though the functionality is no different.
human nature to fear that which you do not understand.
Get your terms straight. This is the definition of an assault rifle.
“An assault rifle is an automatic rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine.[1] Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies. Assault rifles are categorized in between light machine guns, which are intended more for sustained automatic fire in a light support role, and submachine guns, which fire a pistol cartridge rather than a rifle cartridge.”
Notice it says automatic………………..99.9 per cent of the “big black scary guns” are semi-automatic. I.E. not classified as an assault rifle. One pull of the trigger, one round goes off. They look like assault rifles but are not.
A true automatic weapon is not easy to acquire………….for good reason and I agree that your average person should not be able to have an “assault rifle.” Leave them for the military and other agencies who should know how to use them.
Just tonight I killed an opossum with my perfectly legal, suppressed (ie silencer) AR-15 “assault rifle”, the nasty critter been killing my chickens the past few nights, and I did not even bother the hens 3 feet away. Now had I pulled out the old 12 gauge or the deer rifle, I would have woken up half the neighbors, my wife, and the dogs, so yes Bangorian there are good reasons to own them. By your way of thinking there is no reason anyone should own a big spoon – it will only make them fatter faster.
Thank you for your sensible post
Sensible? The guy admitted to violating Several Maine Game Laws.
1. Hunting at night with, 2. a gun that holds more bullets then allowed by law, 3. with a Silencer 4. all out of season!
I wouldn,t trust that guy in a movie theater with a bag of popcorn!
he was defending livestock so that is a game changer. However I doubt he is for real. He is probably 14 and plays too much COD.
If he was a serious firearms enthusist he wouldnt use the demonizing terms of the brady campaign. “Assault rifle”. the commercially available ar15 does not meet the criteria of an assault rifle therefore they coined the term assault weapon. Both terms are now used interchangeably by the ignorant media and semi automatic rifles are confused with fully automatic select fire rifles.
Well, since we raise and sell chickens and eggs for human consumption they are commercial poultry, and possum are a non game species. My sub sonic ammo is in a 10 round mag as it does not make the action cycle, and it is the only ammo in 10 round mags for that exact reason. The term “assault rifle” was intentionally in quotes for a reason, and the last video game I played was pac-man for $0.25 at the arcade, would not even know how to turn on the player for your “COD”, – oh and I paid my $200 tax stamp.
actually possum is a game species they are regulated during a trapping season. However like fox, racoon, fisher,weasel, coyotes they are considered a pest species and can be dispatched if interfering with business/livelihood. I rescind my previous comment haha. lots of big talkers on comment forums claiming to have things they have never even touched. Also didn’t even notice the quotations around assault rifle thus missed the sarcasm.
So I suppose that in having another 99 rounds ready in the clip helpt you feel more secure in the event that he brought the rest of the oppossum village with him to the scene of the crime!
Suppressor? Better be lookin up the game laws fella!
I seriously doubt possum’s are considered GAME in Maine but I could be wrong. I think more like vermin. I believe JAFMO was perfectly within his rights as a citizen as long as he has the proper paperwork. He never mentioned how big the magazine was either. Maybe it was a 10 rounder like my AR has for hunting. If a gun kills people then a spoon makes people FAT.
Season for opposum in Maine is Oct– Dec 31, you cannot hunt with a gun that will hold no more than five rounds, you cannot hunt with a firearm that has a mechanism contrived to deaden the sound of the report.
Guns don;t kill people people do. Usually the ones who refuse to follow Mans Laws!!!!!!
you cant hunt anything in maine with a magazine larger then 5 rounds. however you are allowed to use firearms that accept higher capacity magazines. A good example is the popular ruger ranch rifles. they make great little field guns but are capable of accepting 30 rounders.
I think that is the open trapping season for them. but you can dispatch vermin and pests if they are interfering/endangering your livestock.
shooting possum is not a legitimate argument here… You can suppress a bolt gun and have the same results you had here.
Hopefully you are never the victim of a home invasion, armed robbery, or other violent crime. It can easily take law enforcement 20-30 minutes to show up, longer in some rural areas of Maine and the criminals already have guns. Saying it will never happen to me is foolish, shortsighted, and naive. Many Mainers leave their houses and cars unlocked simply because they are naive and think this place is Mayberry. It’s not – and it drives every cop nuts seeing regular citizens doing stupid things only to cry victim because they opened themselves up to criminal activity.
besides the fact the world is caving in and the there is a very real possibility of a global financial collapse in our lifetime. The riots and upheaval in greece will look like a hippie sit in protest. The international banking cartels are bankrupting the western monetary system. Have you been watching the recent news regarding the libor rate fraud? In a lawful civilized society there is little requirement for owning a tactical carbine or some variety of assault rifle besides they are fun to go out to the range and burn up a paycheck. The intermediate cartridges are a poor choice for most north american game animals and the platforms tend to have lots of moving and sometimes intricate parts increasing maintenance/cleaning and costs/time associated with that.
However, just like homeowners insurance they are a great hedge against lawlessness and social unrest in the future. Now like many others who tend to be more progressive in their thinking you might say… well if the world goes to hell we will come together as brothers and sisters, we will barter, and live in harmony. Which is all well and good and if something catastrophic I really hope strong community becomes a universal value. But, I am a realist and I have seen what some humans are capable of and being unarmed in society with out the rule of law in not a liability I don’t accept and urge others to not accept it.
With all that beings said. Like I alluded to before. These semi automatic rifles fire intermediate cartridges. An ak47 fires a round with comparable power to the classic .30-30 which isn’t suited to anything larger then whitetail. a popular North American hunting round that will topple an elk the .300 win mag. It flys flatter further and delivers 150% more energy @ 500 meters. It can be chambered in rifles that accept detachable magazines and are semi automatic. Also worth mentioning this rifle with a FMJ round will pass right through level iii kevlar. But we hear no mention of this kind of rifle ever. because they are typically wooden stocked with pretty inlay and checkering and seen as a sporting arm. judging things by their appearance is silly.
I agree, that’s why you need a Class 3 Federal Firearms License to own one. We all own semi-automatic assault “style” weapons because full auto’s cost way too much in ammo to enjoy on a regular basis.
There is no possibility that any present or future government of this country could successfully disarm the people. Whether you think it’s good idea or a bad one, it’s simply not possible. It might have been possible 75 or 100 years ago, and had it been done then we would probably not be able to own guns today. That opportunity has long since passed. The crazed screaming from the NRA about the immanent loss of their second amendment rights is pointless and foolish. Personally I see no need for any citizen to own a gun capable of “full automatic” firing, but even limiting that type of firearm is impossible at this point. Guns are here to stay.
Fully automatic rifles have been highly restricted by federal law since 1968. I think you are confused. I wouldn’t call it crazed screaming by the NRA – there have been thousands of bill pushed through Congress, local states, and international treaties to restrict all civilian ownership of firearms. I refuse to be a victim or let my family be the victim to a criminal predator. Sorry, I am keeping my presently legal firearms regardless of what some Nanny state says.
Sorry – I should have said “eliminating” full-auto weapons is impossible. My point is that no matter how hard they try, the government – present or future – could never succeed in disarming the populace. I have no intention of trying, though I (currently) do not own any guns myself. (This is likely to change in the next year or so, but that’s another story). I question the accuracy of “thousands” of bills to restrict ownership. I am on board with laws that restrict convicted felons from owning guns, or mentally unstable people, or children below a certain age. But there is no way I would back any kind of restriction that would prevent or limit a law-abiding citizen from owning a weapon that he or she might need in order to put food on the table, or to protect their life and property. And I’m generally classified as a “bleeding-heart liberal”.
We must stand tall and respect the Constitution and the Amendments to it. OH yes and I guess that means the Patriot Acts that Follow. The right to bear arms is that the amendment to the Constitution that protects the right of a Militia to bear arms. In todays world this could mean that we all have the right to own and operate a drone after all it is people who kill people not the weapon?
So anyone with pot and a gun in the house is a federal criminal???
Yes, it’s an unlawful controlled substance. Something that probably wouldn’t have surfaced had he not driven 112, threatened to kill a former employer, and lied about his drug use on a federal 4473.
and there are misconseptions about K2. K2 does NOT have THC in it-its synthetic chemicals that do much different things than THC and has been banned in a lot of places. it can make people violent (unlike THC)
The system working like it should – another excuse for more gun control, right Lefties!
Yes clearly our ‘system’ is working like it should: James Holmes
shot and kill 12 people and harmed multiple more people as did Jared Laughner (Gabby Giffords- killed 6 hurt 19 others) Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech massacre-killed 32 hurt 25 others) Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (Columbine High School massacre killed 13 hurt 24 others) George Pierre Hennard (killed 23 hurt 22) James Oliver Huberty (killed 21 hurt 19) Jiverly Antares Wong (killed 13 hurt 4) Howard Unruh (killed 13 hurt 3) James Pough (killed 11 hurt 6) Michael McLendon (killed 10 hurt 6) Nidal Hasan (killed 13 hurt 32) SUPER SYSTEM we have.
Ah the joys of a little insecurity………………….
K2 is actually synthetic cannabis. I know that sounds picky but marijuana has THC, and the ingredients minimic THC but are not in fact THC. and also why they effect people differently than pot